June 2008 - The Olympics are here and Mums deserve gold medals

[ThePenguinProject]

Thought I'd start a new thread before we ran out of space! Couldn't remember the exact name suggestion so have paraphrased, the sentiment is still the same though...

I wish there was a strong enough swear word I could use for the way I feel right now even the bad ones dont quite cut it!!!

OK so EEG been waiting results and I was told that there was no seizure activity which is huge...going to wait for a couple of weeks and then begin to reduce drugs and see how things go. Apart from that yes there is some brain activity that there wasnt before WTF yes I could have told you that

Anyway her head control is better but not good enough, her movements are better but not good enough, her rolling over may be her being clever or it could be her taking spazams anyway she wittered that this that and the next was good then said she isnt normal, I know she isnt F**KN normal whatever normal is, but is she doing well for a baby with her starting out score? she might be a bit better than what we thought but still have severe prpblems IS IT TOO MUCH TO GET A STRAIGHT ANSWER.

Oh well i will get over it after ive had hundreds of phonecalls today to find out what is what.

hugs josey!!!! It seems like you've a really tough time getting any answers out of the doctors which has to be so frustrating. And Olivia is doing amazing, you know that even if the doctors don't!

Wow, a lot of posts in a short time! Just a quick one becuase Iestyn is sleeping but not very quietly really so I haven't got much time...
.
Josey - thinking of you, you're still in our prayers here. You really are amazing.

Sleeping through - - Iestyn isn't, but we have no routine. He feeds roughly every 3 hours during the day, and at night, we (try to) settle him at 8ish, then wake him at 11.30 for a feed, and he goes then till 3, 4 or 5 depending...depending on nothing, it's random! Then it's 6-7 for a feed and that's daytime. I struggle if it's 6 though and try to get him to nap more.
I did try to follow Gina, but I could not see a way to get him to go beyond 3am for that feed - how do you move it??

He's got his injections on Thursday and I'm dreading it...he screamed and screamed at the 6 week check today!

PIL party: it was pretty good in the end, apart from MIL's weird attitude to bfing. He would start crying and rooting, and I'd say 'he needs a feed', and she'd say 'no he doesn't' and walk away to settle him! The only thing that would settle him was bfing (obviously), so she carried a hungry screaming baby for 5 minutes before handing him back to me saying 'can you settle him'. Er, no, but I can feed him!! Bizarre. She finds bfing 'disgusting'. Hm.

A shocker from NW Wales - I have the heating on. In August. But it's cold...

DQ - I'm using reusables and doing quite well I think. They're not too bad at all. But then Iestyn doesn't cry when he's wet. Or dirty for that matter.

People using reusables - do you use wipes of any sort when it's only a wet nappy? I never know what to do - if his skin is a bit damp, I sometimes dry it off, but if I use wipes, don't I need to dry that off then? And isn't wee ok on the skin? (I sound really dirty now - oops!)

Thanks AH needed that hug

Sponge the lad on the home page with the santa is who designed it along with his dad, he brilliant isnt he, I hope Oli can achieve half he has.

Para....I think you only need to be paying tax to do the gift, as the government give something like 14p to the pound big of them eh!

SA thank you

Oh forgot to say they are going to start pumping more medication into her to stop her being sick, and add caramel stuff to her milk so its thicker she might take more and I think less....is there anything else lol!

josey - can I ask what is wrong with Olivia (sorry don't know how better to phrase it), I know she had birth trauma but I'm not sure what that caused. How will it affect her? If you don't want to talk about it I understand. x

Amberc its ok....she had birth asphixia resulting severe brain damage, her discharge letter is ....Cerebral Palsy Spastic Quad and severe mental retardation with ongoing seizures. Its becoming apparent she isnt quite so severe but how we just yet dont know.
Currently she is on 2 hard drugs to make sure she doesnt fit, which obviously also dont give a true reading of herself. She is fed through a tube and cannont properly communicate, she has only recently started letting out crys, sometimes you can see her face crying but no sound IYKWIM her muscle tone isnt as it should be and movements are limited, she struggles to control her eyes so they roll about, not as much as they used too. We will only know what she can do when she doesnt reach her milestones. IE sit walk talk. So its pretty shite but she is soo cute and cuddly

I don't know, you go away for a week, and return to a whole new thread. I have not go time to catch up on all the posts so am off to skim this thread and will return later, if I can tear myself away from the horses on the olympics

Essie if the nappy's just wet I still swipe around with some wet cotton wool so the urine doesn't stay on his skin too much (I think this might keep nappy rash at bay, but not sure). BTW, thanks for 'poonami', it has become a favourite term chez puddock...
We did use reusables for 1 month - prefolds with wraps from local nappy service - but frankly they were no good at 'containment' and I decided life was too short to be scrubbing crap off the wrap after every change. So for now we're using Nature eco disposables, and when he's a bit older and less colicky perhaps we'll revisit the reusables. I think that then, despite no garden/tumbledryer, I'd just choose and wash my own though.
Something odd about the Nature reusables - the corn product that's in them instead of the gel to absorb moisture swells up when wet, so you can tell he needs a change when he looks like he has a big codpiece on

Amberc how about a wrap sling, like a Moby or Kari-Me? I have a Moby for Peter and he likes it, though only upright at the moment. They can be tied in various ways, including more horizonal positions - see www.mobywrap.com/t-instructions-Cradle.aspx - and you could carry him facing out or on your back when he's older too, if you fancy it.

More advice needed: what do you do with your babie when they are awake? Luke is staying awake for longer and longer and where 10 mins on the chair and 10 mins under the baby gym used to suffice I now need to think of other was to entertain. I do play games bit I can't do that all day i'll go mad!!!

Puddock - will check out the sling but have bought a cheapo one on ebay for now. Your comment on the cod piece made me PMSL !!!

josey - gosh from what you've said it sounds like their prognosis was vastly exaggerated. I wonder how much the drugs she's on impair her natural crying/moving instincts - are they meant to make her drowsy? A bit like sedatives?

Essie - hope you used those wipes I bought you!

Puddock - I didn't invent the term, that credit goes to a friend of mine. But it's in heavy use here too! And funny about the nature nappies!

I'm using Modern Baby nappies, but have a dilemma though. I bought the size 1 ones, knowing I'd have to invest in size 2 at a later date. However, they changed their style, and they're now birth to potty and more expensive - so it would be double the amount I'd be paying for size 2 IYKWIM. I now need to decide whether to get the size 2 ones now, before they become too rare, or change tack and go for the new style and sell my size 1s before they're too messy.
I'm happy with the nappies I'm using. I bought a sample of the new style from another mumsnetter, and it came today. (But, shhhhh, the nappy has a POO STAIN on it!!! Fancy selling one with a poo stain! I'm not the slummiest mummy around, then!) Anyhow, once it's PROPERLY washed, I'll try it - but it doesn't look convincing as there's no waterproof wrap in the new style ones. Odd.

Sorry all - that was more than necessary on nappies!

BTW - I always read the nappies board. I find it hilarious with all the poo talk. But I expect I won't be laughing when it comes to potty training.

Amber I have the same problem with entertaining Iestyn. He is quite happy looking at his toys (and, news flash, touching them too since last night!) but I feel guilty that I'm not entertaining him. But like you say, it's a bit boring... It's clearly middle class mother angst - I keep worrying that I'm not talking to him enough as well, but frankly I prefer to talk to people who reply.

Using the wipes, and they're lovely! I'm ordering a job lot online. I surf the poonamis with them too...

Ok Im a pain in the rear end...a blog has now been set up against the donation page blog for messages to be left for my mental husband

Amberc the drugs she is on are huge seditives, the main on is Phenabarbitol(sp) they use it for drug addicts as well!! anyway they gave her so much of that to begin with she couldnt move a finger let alone open her eyes and that initial dose was to take 6weeks to start reducing in her system, plus she gets it topped up everyday, currently she is becoming immune to it. Hence improvements. I would love for her to be completely drug and seizure free that would be a huge hurdle.

Essie that's where you and I evidently differ. I love talking to people who can't reply .

I agree Rolf but then we do both have older children!!

josey, thank you for the blog! I've added a comment. So sorry the doctors are being so vague about Olivia's progress and prognosis - she sounds like she is confounding expectations at every turn. You must be so proud of her. Like others have said, it is so difficult to tell what is her and what is the drugs right now.

Amber and Essie - do you have to do anything with babies at this age? I figure it's far easier to over-stimulate than it is to under-stimulate, so Alex spends quite a bit of time on his quilt just kicking his arms and legs while I sit nearby doing my own thing. I will spend some time sitting with him but not much - he seems perfectly happy and soon lets me know if he wants a change of scenery or a cuddle. I don't think I'm doing him any harm .

Finally have chance to post, I try to keep up with the thread but usually someone demands attention before I get to say anything (he is currently asleep on my knee).

We've been using reusable nappies since his cord fell off and I love them. Got some tots bots, some terry squares and some motherease wraps and apart from a few tries in the first week haven't really used the tots bots, the squares are so much quicker to dry and just as easy to put on. We use the flushable liners and found we were having loads of poo leaks until we swapped to some bigger ones which seem to catch the poo much better.
DQ - sometimes wet nappies seem to be the end of the world for him but most of the time he isn't too worried.
Essie - if it's just wee I give it all a bit of wipe with damp cotton wool, don't think DH does though and it doesn't seem to cause any problems.

Josey - it sounds like Olivia is doing brilliantly.

Neenz - I often dream that I have picked J up and am feeding him, only to wake up cradling some duvet (or once DH's head!) then get into a confused panic about where he is only to find him sleeping soundly in his basket.

Better go have a hungry baby, hello to everyone else!

Sponge good, I'm not the only one letting my child stimulate himself...I often let him lie there on his play mat and read a good book. (Me reading, not him, although he's halfway through War and Peace now. Very advanced.)

Thing is, if he's asleep = v. good, awake and not crying = v. good; fussing (like now) = not so good, crying really loud = disastrous.

Heading for disastrous now!!

Essie ! Alex finished W&P last week and is now onto the Complete Works of Bill Shakespeare !

I don't think there's anything wrong with leaving them to entertain themselves - the sooner the learn to do that the better!

indeed, leaving them to it has quite an esteemed history, advocated by none other than D.H.Lawrence. check this great article for more - it's called 'benign neglect' and i am fully in favour of it!

Learning to entertain themselves will be hugely useful when you have no. 2 ladies - or 3 in your case Neenz!

Oh dear more than 10 mins for Luke and he starts to bawl which I assume is out of boredom! He is fairly unrelaxed as the London meet up ladies will testify to!

amber I too always wonder what people do when the lo's are awake. I feel like I need to be playing with A all the time. I do talk to him loads, but realise I probably don't need to be showing him toys quite so much as he's not at all interested!

Took A to baby massage this aft. He was enjoying it at the start and I was very proud of my happy chilled baby. Went horribly wrong half way through though and he screamed the place down - so embarrassing! And he has continued to scream for most of the day actually......

Have been trying the Pick Up Put Down method to get A to sleep in his basket yesterday evening and this evening. Fingers crossed it seems to be working (although had to do it 7 times last night after the midnight feed before he finally nodded off!)

Question for those of you who have suffered from thrust (nipples!), what are the symptoms?

Allnew Thrust?!!! I'd like to hear they symptoms too!